


Mending

by orphan_account



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Brother-Sister Relationships, Canonical Character Death, Child Death, Divorce, Gen, Growing Up, Sister-Sister Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-16
Updated: 2015-02-16
Packaged: 2018-03-13 09:15:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3376079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Megan Montgomery's life had changed since her little brother died.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mending

_"See you at Christmas, Megan!"_

That was the last thing her baby brother had said to her. He'd been so  _sure_ that there would be a Christmas, that he'd be there, that she'd be there and that Whitney would be there, that mum and dad and uncle Roger and Aunt Beatrice and cousin Phillip  _would be there_!

But it wasn't to be so.

Just before Christmas holiday, mum was approached by a couple of Death-Eaters and asked if she, as a daughter of the Rosier line, would lend herself and her children to the cause. When she refused, they promised retribution and while she was shaken by this, she only took the minimal measures of moving herself, dad and Rodney to their summer cottage by the coast. There, a day before Megan and Whitney were supposed to come home, her brother was attacked while playing in the garden by the infamous Fenrir Greyback.

Dad and mum tried to save him, they took him to St. Mungo's and the healers tried and  _tried_ to fix Rodney, but...it was too late. Her little brother would die on a hospital bed as healers worked at double-speed to close the gaping wound that used to be his throat as they spelled blood replenishers into his system.

Staring at the photo of her brother, Megan Montgomery sniffled as his head turned and his lips opened to reveal a smile of missing teeth. Then he was waving and laughing and Megan wanted to  _hear_ that laugh that she saw spilling from his lips because she couldn't for the life of her remember if it started on a high note or if he worked up to a roaring ruckus like their dad used to before-

Shoving her fist into her mouth, Megan couldn't stop the sob and she knew that Whitney probably heard her from across their bedroom. Though, she didn't have proof for this. Whitney didn't say or react to much these days. She walked around in a world all her own, her brown eyes were glassy and shuttered close to reality.

Megan didn't blame her older sister. If life hadn't been bad enough when they left for school this fall, it was worse now with Rodney four months dead and buried. Mum and dad didn't get on like a pair of newlyweds anymore. There was no kissing and grabbing when the other was in the same room, there was no quiet laughter from somewhere deep in the Montgomery home and their certainly weren't fresh flowers left for mum in the living room or dining room and her dad's favorite snacks weren't kept at full-stock in the fridge anymore.

Mum couldn't stand to be in the company of anybody for more than a few minutes - especially if it was Whitney who was the mirror image of their brother. It had been often remarked upon how much Rodney and Whitney took after one another; they shared so many features, from their curly brown hair to their long necks and short, stub-like toes that their dad had always called sausage bites. Once in a while, when Whitney and Megan had taken their brother out alone for ice cream or to the quidditch shop, people would remark on how much they looked alike.

The two had always shared a look then, both their eyes twinkling with a secret even Megan wasn't allowed in on when they answered in unison:

"And we wouldn't want it any other way!"

Megan had had her own theory about the two. When she was younger and Whitney was younger and Rodney alive, she'd fancied that maybe the two were twins and that her brother had gotten lost somewhere in the plane before life and it'd taken him twelve years to find his missing half and be born like he should have been a dozen years earlier along side Whitney.

Since Rodney had... _passed_ , her dad, who'd been the most jovial man to ever walk the face of the earth, stopped smiling. Most days, Megan was lucky if she could get him to hold a bit of a conversation with her. It never really went past the weather or what she was making for dinner, but she didn't mind. Not now. Not when everybody else was lost to their own worlds.

In fact, Megan was sure it was those little chats that had kept her from going insane.

Crying hot tears into her pillow, she hugged her brother's picture close and focused on her favorite memory of him.

-v-v-v-v-v-

He'd been just about a year old, then, a little being of fat rolls and bright, wide eyes. It was the summer before she went to Hogwarts and she was trying to get as much time ahead in her studies as she could in a month's time. On her way to her and Whitney's bedroom where she'd left her Defense Against the Dark Arts book, Megan had walked into the spare room her mother had converted into her brother's play area. Rodney been babbling away to his jack-in-the-box toy when she'd stepped in on her way to the stair case just across the room.

He'd heard her from behind him and flopped back in an ungraceful way so he could see who had come into the room without waisting time on using his ungainly limbs to turn himself around so he could face Megan.

She'd laughed at her baby brother and said, "Silly, it's just me! Megan!"

"Meeeg'n!" he shrieked with pleasure.

Megan remembered how shocked she'd been to know her brother's first word was her name. It had been unbelievable - especially given that her and Whitney's first word had been mummy. It had only seemed logical that it would be the same for Rodney. Of course, with that belief blown out of the water, Megan hadn't stopped the elation that gripped her and with pure, ecstatic joy, she'd scooped her baby brother up and kissed his face a zillion times over.

"What a bright lad!" she'd praised before whisking him off to show her mum and sister.

They both been equally impressed and Megan had glowed with pride for days after. Not everyone's little brother's first word was their name, after all.

-v-v-v-v-v-

A hand on her head ripped Megan away from her reverie, but she stayed absolutely still as the hand slowly began to card its way through her tawny locks. Focusing on the touch, she was slowly able to calm down and when Megan felt ready, she turned around and saw her sister gazing at her.

"Whitney?" she mumbled.

Her sister gave a soft smile - the first she'd seen on her face in months. "Megan," she whispered in reply.

Twining her fingers in her sister's nightie, the younger asked, "Are you back?"

"Back from where?" Whitney questioned with puzzlement.

Rapping her knuckles along her head, Megan sighed, "from your  _head_. You've been lost in their a long time."

"Oh," the older replied with a grimace. "If you're putting it that way, then yes, I'm back," she answered.

Sitting up, Megan wrapped her arms around her big sister and relaxed. "I'm glad," she told her, "I missed you - and I miss mum and dad too."

Whitney held her close and was silent for a very long time before saying, "Dad and mum are splitting up, did you know that?"

"What?!" she yelped in shock. How did she not know this? How had she not noticed?!

Nodding, Whitney murmured, "They only speak about it when they think we're asleep. Seeing as I don't actually do much sleeping, though, I caught them talking last night - and several nights before - about it. Mum hates herself, she blames what happened to Rodney on herself. Dad doesn't want to leave her all alone; but, he doesn't have much of a choice. Mum's been telling him if he doesn't let her go she doesn't know what she'll do. I think she wants to kill herself, Megan."

Pulling away, Megan said, "When they tell us, I'll go with her. I will, Whitney. She  _needs_ somebody because I'm not letting her die too. Rodney's enough."

Pushing back her bangs, her older sister commented in a wistful manner, "Sometimes, I wish I was as brave as you."

"I'm not a Gryffindor - that's you, Whitney," Megan reminded her sister.

Kissing both her cheeks, the elder ignored what her sister had just said and asked, "You'll write me, won't you? Even if it's just to let me know you've made it another day?"

Clutching her sister's hand to her heart, Megan agreed, "I will. Everyday."

"You're such a good little sister," Whitney praised before standing up and going back to her own bed.

Megan watched entrapped as her sister laid herself back down and turned her back on her. For the rest of the night, she just watched the silent rise and fall of Whitney's shoulders as she slept.

-v-v-v-v-v-

A week later, when her mum and dad sat them down in the kitchen as a family for the first time in months, Megan knew what was coming. And so anxious was she that she could not help herself from blurting,

"I'm staying with you, mum."

Both their parents looked quite shocked to know that they knew, but Whitney, ever helpful, cleared things up for them right away.

"Did you really think you could hide it from us?" she demanded.

Her dad and mum shared a look and then, with sheepish and sad faces, they shook their heads. "We had hoped..." Megan's mother whispered.

Kicking out a foot, she'd callously declared, "Hope's dead, mum." She flinched at this and dad sent her a glare, but Megan didn't care as she insisted, "I'm staying with you, mum."

Dad studied her closely and asked, "Are you sure, Meg?"

Meeting his gaze, she gave him a resolute nod and told him, "I haven't been this sure about anything since I told the Sorting Hat I wanted to go to Ravenclaw."

"Alright then," her dad relented and with a quick glance to Whitney who shook her head at him, it didn't need to be voiced where her older sister would be going.

After that, no more was said about was going to happen.

-v-v-v-v-v-

Finished with putting her clothes away, Megan slowly spun in a circle. She took in her new bedroom in the flat she and her mother would be sharing for the foreseeable future; it was in a muggle town, Canterbury, and it seemed like an alright place to live. It wasn't too big and there were many things to see, like a Norman Castle and an Abbey. It felt like the right place for healing to happen, Megan thought.

Here, it would just be her and mum and together; they'd figure out how to make living work without dad's laughter, without Whitney's companionship and somehow, they'd find a way to manage with never seeing Rodney's wide grin again.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think with a comment/kudo :)


End file.
